first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Brian Lawrence (3-6, 4.78 ERA) vs Freddy Garcia (6-3, 3.51 ERA)
Great comeback win Saturday night against the White Sox. Rookie Tim Stauffer allowed a first inning run but otherwise matched Mark Buehrle pitch for pitch. But with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and with Jeff Brantley’s favorite closer on the hill, Ramon Hernandez launched a solo homer into the left field seats to tie the game, 1-1. Four batters later, Damian Jackson punched a grounder past the drawn-in infield to plate Sean Burroughs with the winning run.
Stauffer threw strikes early and often, showing excellent command of the breaking ball and working smart sequences. He was efficient, throwing just 92 pitches (65 for strikes) in seven innings.
The Padres look to take the series in a Sunday afternoon affair that marks the end of their longest homestand of the year. The breakdown:
AB BA OBP SLG
Lawrence vs current White Sox 62 .306 .368 .468
Garcia vs current Padres 84 .286 .362 .357
Juan Uribe (.375/.400/.667 in 24 AB) has faced Lawrence the most, and done the most damage. For the Padres, Robert Fick (.455/.500/.455 in 11 AB) and Ramon Hernandez (.368/.368/.474 in 19 AB) have had the most success against Garcia. Phil Nevin (.071/.188/.071 in 14 AB) hasn’t done much. Given Nevin’s recent general lack of production, today might be a good time to give Fick the start at first base.
This game was ours, up two with six outs to go.
I disliked both of Bochy’s major moves.
Pulling 75 pitch Lawrence who has been cruising. Yes Sweeney got the runner over, but there is a decent probability you can do that with a sacrifice. So you dip into your bullpen a bit early; yes it is a good pen, but I didn’t like it when he pinch hit for Lawrence.
Loading up the bases. With a good control pitcher, OK, but you have a fast Timo at first and decent speed with Uribe, so it is going to have to be an almost perfect ball to get the DP. And Aki has nasty stuff, but has had control problems this year. Let him throw a bunch of nasty stuff at Timo; if he loses, him, OK, but at least you have the probability of a K. So it was a bad call by the ump on the walk, but I argue he shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Who knows what B-Law would have done in the 7th, but he had a very good in the 6th, so if he gets through it we get Seanz in the 8th, then Trevor with a pure save opp.
Bullpen:
yesterday: Linebrink 15, Aki 24
two days: Saenz 19, Hammond 12
three days: Linebrink 15
four days: Reyes 30, May 22
Typing that up, I would not say the ‘pen was that overworked. Actually decently spread and rested. I still hated pulling B-Law out early.